Green Lantern: New Guardians #30 Review

Who will pay the price of devotion?

Green Lantern: New Guardians #30 concludes, for now, the story of the Godkillers and X’Hal, essentially postponing any real conclusion to their dispute in favor of Kyle Rayner putting on a god-like display of power which leaves the Guardians cautiously in awe of his ability. The abrupt end of the plot leaves things far from resolved and unfortunately robs the reader of any kind of satisfaction in a storyline which was ripe for a some exploration of religion and faith in favor of putting a bookmark in the story.

The wrath of X’Hal

This bump in the road for the series is unfortunate, but it’s not unforgivable. I would rather have liked to have seen the story drawn out more and the only mistake would be to not revisit the Godkillers before they and X’Hal have a final confrontation. Looking at the bright side, Kyle Rayner may now find himself on the Godkillers’ short list of targets once they get back on their feet and that could be very interesting. That said, this issue isn’t without merit and writer Justin Jordan creates some great drama when the Godkillers make their point about how far one takes their devotion, causing Kyle Rayner to lose control of himself and allowing the more powerful emotions in the spectrum to consume him.

The Guardians step up when the tensions with the Godkillers reach a breaking point and it was fun to see them emerge from merely being observers to being participants and reminding us that they are, after all, extremely powerful immortals and more than capable of throwing down with anyone. Carol Ferris plays a role as well, allowing Kyle to transport all the Godkillers from around the galaxy to Elpis, the planet that the Blue Lanterns made their home when Odym was destroyed by the Reach way back in New Guardians #10.

The Guardians take a more active role in the dispute between X’Hal and the Godkillers

Kyle’s stalling tactic shocks everyone due to the scale of his efforts, not merely transporting the Godkillers on Kalosa, but all of them around the universe that were in the process of killing X’Hal’s followers as well. It’s a magnificent feat to be sure and it alludes to the fact that Kyle is changing as a result of either his trip back and forth through the Source Wall or his exposure to the White Lantern ring. That will be addressed in the upcoming annual, but for now we’re left wondering. Unfortunately the need for the spectacle negates the greater conversation that could have taken place beforehand where someone asks the Godkillers how murdering religious followers serves any purpose. At least that might have given them something to chew on while they’re stewing on Elpis.

Artistically, Brad Walker shares pencil duties Diogenes Neves and while their art styles don’t blend perfectly they aren’t visually jarring in any way, either. Walker’s pages show a greater attention to detail than Neves’ does, but the latter’s work isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination.

At the end of the day Green Lantern: New Guardians #30 is a good if slightly average issue that suffers from the lack of any sort of satisfying closure to what has been a promising story. While there are a couple of moments which provide some emotional resonance they pale in comparison to what might have been. Three out of five lanterns.

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